


SPACE IS QUEER

by Scotty1609



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Agender Pidge | Katie Holt, Androgynous Shiro (Voltron), Asexual Hunk (Voltron), Everyone is Queer, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Gender Issues, Gender-Fluid Allura (Voltron), M/M, Pansexual Lance (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt-centric, Polyamorous Lance (Voltron), Precious Pidge (Voltron), Queer Families, Queer Themes, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Mom Allura (Voltron), Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), Space is Queer, Team Voltron Family, Transgender Coran (Voltron), non-binary Pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 03:40:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9473774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scotty1609/pseuds/Scotty1609
Summary: There were some days when she wanted desperately to wear dresses and grow her hair out, but on other days, she wanted nothing more than to steal the boys' clothes and prance around the Castle in her hoodie and pants.Shiro spoke to the Blue Paladin with a completely accepting voice. “You don't need any labels unless you want them.”“Imightkindabeasexual!”“Both of you are grounded.”“You can't ground us!”“Oh, I totally called it!” Hunk exclaimed, high-fiving Pidge. “Coran owes me twenty quib!”“Yeah!” Hunk was quick to agree. “After all, I'm pretty sure like ninety percent of us are on the spectrum anyways, so no judging here!”“But you two are still grounded.”SPACE IS SO QUEER. SOOO QUEER.FIGHT ME.





	

**Author's Note:**

> SPACE QUEERS GIVE ME LIFE.  
> SO HERE, HAVE SOME SELF-ACCEPTING AND LOVING SPACE FAM FLUFF, YOU FILTHY FREAKING ANIMALS.
> 
> WARNING: this contains insurmountable amounts of queerness so be prepared for lots of self-indulgent love and fluff; also, this fic was not beta'd at ALL, so please forgive any screw-ups! :)
> 
> I did my best to use all of these Queer and Gender-Queer terms correctly, so please forgive me if I use the wrong definition for any of them! I myself am a cis pansexual girl, so this story is near and dear to my heart. I didn't write this to offend anyone, I just wanted to express my love for QUEER SPACE LION RANGERS and my love of Netflix's open policy on queer representation. (Still waiting on Klance and Matt/Shiro to become canon...)
> 
> I will probably always write Pidge as female or non-binary, but this is my first non-binary fic for them/her, so please excuse any OOC'ness. :)
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!!  
> I'd love it if you guys want to read any of my other Voltron fics

****Pidge sighed as she looked in the full-length mirror in her bedroom. She had just come out the the team as female, but as soon as the words had left her mouth, they felt... strange. It hadn't felt _right_. After months of masquerading as a boy, calling herself a girl made her skin crawl. There were some days when she wanted desperately to wear dresses and grow her hair out, but on other days, she wanted nothing more than to steal the boys' clothes and prance around the Castle in her hoodie and pants.

Running fingers through her hair and pressing her glasses up her nose, Pidge looked down at her body. She was shapeless and thin, flat-chested even without her ace bandages. And yes, she _knew_ it was dangerous to wear them, but it wasn't like she could order a binder from Amazon in space, and she had no time when back on Earth to buy one- it would have alerted her mother to her plans for the Garrison anyhow.

“Team,” a distinctly male voice- and with a shock, Pidge realized she didn't recognize it at all- came over the intercom system. “Please make your way to the deck for a mission debriefing.

Pidge had learned to don her armor at near light speed. It was a training exercise Shiro had put them through in the earlier days of Voltron. He insisted they needed to be ready for battle at any moment, and Allura had whole-heartedly agreed.

Changed into her uniform, Pidge raced to the deck. Her thoughts were filled with curiosity about their mission and nervousness at the unfamiliar male voice that had spoken to them.

Upon reaching the doors to the large cockpit, Pidge ran into Keith.

“Did you recognize that voice?” he asked her cautiously.

“No,” Pidge replied as she led the way inside, going to stand in between Shiro and Hunk. She took note of their shocked faces, and turned to look at their new pilot.

There was a man that was vaguely familiar standing at the helm. He was tall and had short white hair and deep tan skin, donning pink and white armor and a pair of levitating earrings. With a shock, Pidge realized just who was facing them.

“Allura?!” she exclaimed, rather confused.

Allura- and it _had_ to be Allura, those teal eyes and pink tattoos were too distinct- smiled at Pidge. “Are you all ready for the debrief?” Allura's deep voice resonated through the room.

“Wait, wait, wait-” Lance said, waving his hands in front of him. “Why are you... a _dude_?”

Allura cocked her- _his_ \- head to the side. “Can humans not change their gender at will?”

“We aren't shape-shifters, Princess,” Shiro reminded her- _him_ , Pidge told herself.

The Altean princess- prince?- looked pitying of them. “This is peculiar...”

“Can you please explain what's going on?” Hunk asked the prince, who was looking rather confused by now.

Shrugging, Allura spoke. “Some days I feel the need to be more masculine. Most of the time I prefer my female form, but on the rare occasion I enjoy the sound of a deeper voice. The increased height and muscle mass are also preferable at times.”

“So...” Lance began, “does this mean you're gender-fluid?”

“What is _gender-fluid_?” Allura asked him.

Shiro was the one to respond. “It's an Earth term. It's used to describe someone who fluctuates between genders.”

“Ah!” Allura exclaimed as he smiled. “Then yes, I would consider myself _gender-fluid_.”

The Paladins all looked at each other before nodding to themselves.

“That's cool,” Lance grinned at the prince. “My cousin is trans, so I get that.”

“We're glad you were able to confide in us, Princess- er, Prince,” Shiro corrected himself. “Would you like for us to refer to you as Allura still?”

Allura shrugged. “It would be easier to remember. I do not mind any change. Allura is the name my father gave me, and I am proud of it no matter the form I am in. After all, most Alteans shift between gender at will, which means the vast majority of our names are interchangeable between sexes.” Clapping his hands together, Allura's voice took on a more serious tone. “Now, about that mission.”

 

…

 

Coran was the next to confide in them all. He did it casually, not really caring about the reactions of the Paladins- not that any of them had particularly negative reactions, just a bit of surprise.

Lance and Hunk had been discussing their families, and the topic of Lance's aforementioned cousin came up. “Yeah, she changed her name from Austin to Aubrey. She's transitioning now- hormones and stuff.”

“That's so cool!” Hunk exclaimed with a grin. “It always makes me happy to hear about people being able to come out and be comfortable.”

“My own transition was rather easy,” Coran put in his thoughts. “After all, being a shape-shifter makes it much easier.”

“ _Your_ transition?” Keith tried to clarify, to which Coran nodded.

“Yes, of course. You use this term- _transgender_ \- to describe someone who has identified themselves as the opposing gender, correct?”

“Well, yeah,” Lance told him, “but I thought Alteans were gender-fluid?”

“Some of us prefer to stay one gender,” Allura, now in her biologically feminine body, informed the Paladins. “Like Coran and my father. Alteans are born of one gender, but it is quite common for us to _transition_ as you called it.”

Shiro smiled at the Altean man. “Well, I'm glad you're comfortable, Coran. Thank you for telling us.”

Coran waved his hand in the air. “Ah, these affairs are trivial. Such matters are casual discussion for us Alteans! Are they not the same on Earth?”

Wincing, Lance replied, “Not really... A lot of people are stubborn assholes-”

“ _Language,_ Lance.”

“-and are afraid of transgender people. And gay people. And asexual people. And polyamorous people. And-”

“We get the picture,” Keith interrupted the Blue Paladin, rolling his eyes.

Allura and Coran looked horribly confused at all of the terms Lance was spitting out. “ _Gay_?” Allura asked. “Asexual?”

Hunk lit up at the Princess's curiosity and dove down eagerly into the conversation, using wild gestures as he explained the human terms for the different genders and sexualities.

As the conversation carried on, Pidge began growing uncomfortable. Her hand reached towards her small breasts, bound by ace bandages, and she had to remind herself quickly that grabbing one's chest in the presence of others- especially a bunch of men- was considered somewhat inappropriate. So she changed the gesture into rubbing at her sternum nonchalantly.

Shiro noticed the movement and furrowed his brows at the Green Paladin, who ignored his concern blatantly. Lance, however, only noticed Pidge's squirming and uncomfortable expression. He frowned at her, seeming a little frustrated. “Are we making you uncomfortable or something?” The question held a hint of accusation, and Pidge winced.

“No, I'm just- I'm a little sore from training earlier,” Pidge lied. If Lance noticed the fib, he said nothing on it. Shiro, however, rested a hand on Pidge's shoulder with warmth.

“Maybe you should rest a little.”

“Nah,” Pidge shrugged him off. “I promised Hunk I'd help him update Yellow's software. I'm fine.” Quickly standing, Pidge fled the room as nonchalantly as she could manage. Now out of the others' visual range, she allowed the confused tears to fill her eyes as she reached under her shirt to loosen her bandages.

 

…

 

“Hey, babe,” Lance crooned at the alien- a blue-skinned person (person?) with a thin tail and somewhat feminine curves- who stood in front of him. The team had stopped by a nearby moon- Axsion- to pick up some supplies. After a short argument on who all would be allowed to explore the marketplace, Allura had sent them all away for some peace and quiet. “Are you a magician? Because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears.”

Pidge snickered as the alien asked with a frown what a magician was.

“Sorry, girl, what I meant to say was that I didn't know angels could fly so low!”

“I'm not a girl,” the alien told him, followed by, “and I have a partner.”

Lance shrugged in response. “I'm open to any sex,” he told- him? Them?- “And I don't mind more company if you don't.”

Pidge let out a loud laugh as the alien smacked Lance's cheek, leaving a light pink mark in their wake. Walking away with a sashay of their hips, the alien tossed some click-sounding words over their shoulders. “Call me! I have a space-phone!” Lance called after them with a loopy grin.

“Wow Lance,” Hunk chuckled, “I didn't know you liked pain-play.”

Shiro reprimanded Hunk for the innuendo, making some sort of comment about Pidge's age that the girl didn't care to hear. Keith said, “Didn't know you were into polyamory, either.”

Lance shrugged his shoulders, smirking at the Red Paladin. “What can I say? I don't really care about genders or numbers. I mean, I've been in poly and singular relationships before.”

“But not many.”

“ _Hunk_!”

“So you're pansexual and polyamorous?” Keith inquired, to which Lance shook his head.

“I mean, I _guess_ you could call me that, but I try not to use any labels for myself.”

“That's nice,” Shiro spoke to the Blue Paladin with a completely accepting voice. “You don't need any labels unless you want them.”

 _Do I have a label?_ Pidge asked herself as she followed her teammates through the market. So lost in her thoughts, she didn't even notice the mech and tech stalls they were passing until Hunk pointed them out to her. _I- I don't want to be called 'girl' anymore, but... 'boy' doesn't exactly fit, either._

“Pidge?” Hunk said her name with a hint of concern. “You okay? You seem a little lost.”

“M'fine,” the girl mumbled as she pulled the Yellow Paladin over to a nearby mech stall. “Let's get some parts to fix Rover 2.0.”

 

…

 

“Shay expressed missing you,” Allura told Hunk as they all gathered for dinner. It was after a trip to the Balmera to gather a few smaller crystals to fix their secondary engine systems after a blow-up from Pidge and Coran's experimentation. “She seems rather fond of you.”

The blush that spread across Hunk's face was bright red. “Y-Yeah, she's nice. And pretty...”

Lance snickered and elbowed Hunk's ribs lightly. “Yeah, you'd _love_ to get a piece of that, wouldn't you-”

“Lance!” Shiro snapped, inclining his head towards Pidge who groaned and rolled her eyes.

“I'm fourteen, Shiro, not _four_.”

“I- I wouldn't like to 'get a piece of that', actually...” Hunk mumbled, pushing around his food goo. “I- ah- can I... Tell you guys something? It's kinda been on my mind for the past few weeks...”

Lance's face softened at the shy tone of his friend's voice.

“Of course!” Coran cheered Hunk on. “We are open to anything you want to say, my boy!”

“Imightkindabeasexual!”

Keith cocked an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“I... I'm k-kinda asexual?”

“What? Really?!” Lance exclaimed, smacking his forehead. “Crap, sorry, Hunk... I probably made you super uncomfortable with all those jokes about the hot girls at the Garrison and their _great_ ti-”

“ _Lance_!”

Lance had the humility- surprisingly- to look sheepishly at their leader. “Sorry.”

“It's okay, Lance,” Hunk told his friend. “And I accept your apology. I don't really mind the jokes- ah,” he side-eyed Allura and Pidge, “- I mean, they're extremely inappropriate and need to stop...” Hunk cleared his throat. “But really, living in a mens' dorm for a year really gets you used to them.”

“So...” Pidge leaned forward with a mischievous grin. “You and Shay?”

“It'snothingweneedtotalkaboutreally!”

Taking pity on Hunk, Allura quickly changed the conversation by asking Coran and Pidge how the engine renovations were going. And so the team fell once more into companionable chatting. All the while, though, Pidge was going over her friend's words in her head. _Asexual... Well, I'm definitely not_ that _. Training with four shirtless guys makes it_ pretty _obvious._ And she blushed at the thought of _him_ shirtless, sweat dripping down the plains of his back and-

Pidge shook her head a bit too violently, earning strange looks from Keith and Shiro. Her blush deepened, and she looked down at her food goo, digging in a bit too enthusiastically to be genuine.

 

…

 

They were working yet another training exercise, hand-to-hand sparring without the use of their bayards. And of course, everyone was taking turns going up against Shiro. Lance and Pidge were groaning on the floor, coated in sweat and feeling rather bruised. Hunk had yet to face Shiro and was shifting nervously. Even after fighting both Pidge and Lance, and currently sparring with Keith, Shiro was only just beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

Keith sweep-kicked at Shiro's legs, the man jumping to dodge the attack. Keith sent out punches on either side of Shiro's torso, and the Black Paladin grunted against the blows. He managed to catch Keith's wrist though, and flipped the boy over his shoulder. Keith impacted the ground with a heavy _woosh_ , the air momentarily knocked out of his lungs. Shiro was pinning him, and Keith was forced to call “Surrender”.

Groaning, Keith accepted Shiro's hand up. The Black Paladin began simultaneously critiquing and praising his teammate, as he did with all of them. As Shiro spoke to him, Keith lifted the bottom of his shirt to rub at his sweaty neck.

Pidge noticed the mark first, as Shiro was too busy explaining Keith's mistakes at the moment. The loud laugh she let out made the others look down, though, and Shiro squawked out, “Is that a _bite mark_ on your _hip_?!”

Keith's face went redder than his Lion, and he scrambled to pull his shirt down. “N- _No_! It's- ah- it's just- a rash! A rash!”

Shiro glared and crossed his arms. “Those were _teeth marks_ , Keith.”

“Only _you_ would be able to spot a love-bite from a mile away.”

“ _LOVE BITE_?!” Shiro's voice raised two octaves, and Keith paled at his own admission. Groaning loudly, he burrowed his face in his hands. “ _Who was it_?”

“It was _nobody_ -”

“KEITH.”

Keith _tried_ to look at the floor, he really did, but his eyes flickered for only a fraction of a tick at the Blue Paladin, and then Shiro was rounding on Lance too. Lance, whose face was turning purple from holding his breath.

“It'sreallyjustarashIswear-” Lance sputtered for words. Hunk and Pidge both threw their heads back in laughter, wiping tears from their eyes as they laid out on the floor.

“Both of you are _grounded_.”

“You can't ground us!”

“Oh, I _totally_ called it!” Hunk exclaimed, high-fiving Pidge. “Coran owes me twenty quib!”

“You were _betting on us_?!” Keith growled, earning another wave of laughter from the Yellow and Green Paladins.

“Why didn't you tell me?” Shiro sounded more hurt than angry now, and Keith looked at the floor with shame.

“...My dad wasn't really happy about me being gay.”

The words sobered up the other Paladins quickly, and Keith bristled under the looks of pity. “He wasn't abusive or anything,” he quickly corrected them, “just... a total jerk about it.”

“Keith,” Shiro spoke quietly, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. “You know we would _never_ judge you for being gay.”

“Yeah, I guess I just-” the Red Paladin took a few moments to grasp for words- “I hid it for so long, and- well, old habits die hard.”

Lance was gazing at Keith not with pity, but with actual _love_ , and it made Pidge's stomach churn in- Jealousy? Confusion? _Anger_ , even?

“Yeah!” Hunk was quick to agree. “After all, I'm pretty sure like ninety percent of us are on the spectrum anyways, so no judging here!”

“But you two are still grounded.”

“ _Shiro_!”

 

…

 

The red klaxons blaring were what made Pidge fall out of bed, landing on the hard ground with an _oof_. She stood quickly and scrambled for her armor, throwing it all on and grabbing her helmet and bayard on her way out of her bedroom. The others were all sprinting down the halls as well, their helmets settled on their heads and bayards out. Pidge quickly followed their leads as they all came to a halt in the doorway of the command deck.

“Three doboshes and fourty-two ticks!” Coran announced as he clicked what looked like the Altean equivalent to a stop watch. “Better than last time, but still not quite great.”

The Paladins all groaned and shed their helmets, massaging foreheads and grumbling loudly. For once, even Shiro looked annoyed-

And was that marker on his cheek?

The Black Paladin rubbed at the mark, mumbling under his breath about 'making me mess up' and 'stupid liquid eyeliner'.

“You wear eyeliner?” Pidge chirped, making Shiro turn to her.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “Why to you think my eyes always look so pointy?”

“Shiro does the best wings,” Lance whined with jealousy. “I would never be able to contour like he does, either, so I just try to stay away from all that quiznak.”

“Still not using that word right,” Keith teased, hip-checking the other teen.

“Your eyeliner _does_ look flawless pretty much always,” Hunk said with a grin. “I'm not too fond of makeup, but my little sister loved to put it on me, so I learned a little bit. I'm not very _good_ at it, but I mean...” He shrugged.

“You wear makeup every day?” Pidge asked, sounding surprised. “Doesn't that get annoying? And where did you even get space-makeup?”

“Allura had some,” Shiro said.

“Why does a shape-shifter need makeup?” Pidge asked Allura.

The- Prince today- smiled and clapped his hands together. “I like putting it on! Of course, Alteans can morph to look as though they are wearing powder and rouge, but I enjoy the act of applying it. Coran picked me up some human products while you were all visiting the marketplace, but it made my skin burn. So I gifted it to Shiro!”

“Thanks again for that,” the Black Paladin thanked her. “A year with the Galra, and the thing I missed the most- well, not exactly, but it was up there- was my eyeliner.”

“Sooo...” Lance drawled out, “are you, like, gender-queer or something?”

Shiro shook his head. “Not really. I'm cisgender-” looking to Allura and Coran, he explained, “-that means I identify as the sex I was born- but I enjoy makeup and other things that people might consider 'feminine'. So I guess you could call me androgynous?”

“Can you show me?!” Lance exclaimed, vibrating with excitement. “I mean, can you teach me how to contour? My sisters tried, and I was never able to get the hang of it, but-” And Lance and Shiro launched into a conversation about makeup that Pidge couldn't follow for the life of her. They ended a few minutes later with Shiro promising to do a quick tutorial for Lance- along with Coran and Hunk, who seemed mildly interested.

Allura then asked aloud, “Pidge, would you like to learn makeup as well? It is a lovely recreation, and-”

Pidge paled, looking down at her feet. “N-No, thanks though. I-” Looking to the door with longing, Pidge quickly excused herself. “I should get back to Rover 2.0!”

As she fled, the others watched her with confusion. Only Shiro, however, seemed to recognize the conflicted emotions that were staining Pidge's face. He had experienced them before himself. The horrible feeling of your mind crawling around in your skull, your skin shivering and crawling over your muscles.

“I'm gonna go check on her,” Shiro excused himself, heading after the younger Paladin.

 

…

 

Pidge found herself standing in front of her mirror once more, tears in her eyes and fists clenched at her sides. She had already shed her hoodie, the ace bandages around her chest constricting her lungs and making her sobs hurt her ribs.

 _What is going on with me?_ She desperately reached for answers. And no matter how smart she was for her age, no matter how much her teammates had managed to teach her over the past months, she couldn't figure it out. Pidge was gasping for straws, falling down the rabbit-hole, trying to look for salvation. Salvation was hard to find when you didn't even know what it looked like, though.

A knock at her door. “Pidge?” Shiro's voice echoed from the other side. Before she could grab her shirt, the door slid open with a hiss, and Shiro's head popped in. Upon seeing the girl's half-dressed state, the Black Paladin immediately turned around, slapping a hand over his eyes. “Crap, I'm so sorry, Pidge, I should have waited for you to answer-” He cut himself off however when his brain caught up with him. “Wait- are those _bandages_ around your chest?!”

Shiro whipped back around, and Pidge blushed as his eyes sought out her torso. The bandages managed to cover up her breasts completely, but with their beige color, she felt naked under the Black Paladin's gaze. “Pidge,” Shiro spoke sternly, “you need to take those off. _Now_. You're going to bruise your ribs and crush your lungs!”

“I- I was about to take them off!” Pidge squeaked out the lie, reaching for her hoodie and holding it to her chest to hide herself. “T-Turn around! And shut the door!”

Shiro did as he was told, covering his eyes once more for good measure. When Pidge got the bandages off- wincing and trying to bite back her whimper of pain- she tossed on her shirt. “You- you can turn around...” she murmured, unsure if Shiro had heard her near silent voice.

Apparently he had though, because the man turned back around to face her. Pidge felt her heart drop and her stomach go cold at his sorrowful features. “Pidge,” Shiro took her arm and had her sit down on her bed. He dragged her desk chair over, sitting across from her and leaning his elbows on his knees. “Pidge, you can't _do that_. Binding with ace bandages is seriously dangerous to your health, and-”

“What else was I supposed to do?!” she spat with venom. “I was supposed to be a boy at the Garrison! I had to bunk with _Lance_ and _Hunk_! If they saw my boobs, I would have been done for!”

“You've been binding yourself like that since you were at the _Garrison_?” Shiro demanded. “Pidge, adding on our time with Voltron, that's nearly a year.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her up, stalking towards the door. “We need to get you to medical and make sure nothing permanent is-”

“NO!”

The sheer volume and ferocity behind Pidge's tone made Shiro stop. Looking at her, his face softened when he saw the tears that were running over her cheeks. “N-No, Shiro! I- I can't see any of them. I _can't_. If they knew that I was- I mean- Shiro, _I_ don't even know what's going on anymore!”

Bringing the girl into a tight hug, Shiro stroked her hair comfortingly. Once Pidge's sobs quieted to sniffles, he sat her back down on her bed. This time, he sat next to her and allowed the girl to lean up against him. “Pidge...” he began slowly. “You can't truly think, that after all these months of coming out to each other, that the others would judge you for this. Heck, Coran's transgender, too-”

“I'm not transgender,” Pidge told him. “I- I mean- from what you guys've said, I'm not transgender _or_ cisgender. I- I _hate_ being called a boy, and being called a girl isn't any better!” She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from bursting into tears once more. “Shiro... I don't know what's _wrong_ with me...”

“Oh, Katie...” Shiro whispered, pulling her into his side in a half-embrace. “There's nothing wrong with you... Kiddo-” Pidge scoffed at the term. “-Have you ever heard the word non-binary?”

“What?”

“Non-binary,” Shiro repeated. “It's a type of identity that basically means you don't align with any gender. Not cis boy or girl, and not gender-fluid like Allura. Just... Just _you_.”

“... Like androgynous?”

“Sort of...? I mean, they're kind of different- you can be cisgender or transgender and still androgynous- but they've got somewhat similar definitions, I suppose.”

“Can-” Pidge sniffled. “Can I be non-binary? I- I don't like being a boy anymore. And being a girl was weird, too. I just- can I just be me, Shiro?”

Shiro put his chin on Pidge's head and embraced her fully. “Of _course_ you can, Pidge. You can be whatever feels right, or whatever you want.”

“What- what's the words for it?” she asked him. “Not 'she' or 'he', and definitely not 'it'... Can- can I be called 'they' and 'them'? I mean, I know those are plural terms and I'm just one person, but- but it feels...” All of the puzzle pieces were coming together, and everything was suddenly feeling _right_. Pidge felt _good_ about her- about _themself_. It fit, it was perfect, it was a warm hug that made them feel _happy_.

“We'll call you whatever you want, Pidge,” Shiro told them. “Whatever you want, whatever feels right.”

“Can- can we ask the others to call me 'them', too?”

Shiro grinned at her. “Of course, Pidge... Do you still want to be called 'Pidge'? Katie?”

Pidge considered for a moment. “I- I think I want the others to call me Pidge. But- when we're alone, I mean- can... can you call me 'Kat'? I mean, it's better than 'Katie' or 'Kaitlin', and maybe- when we find my dad and Matt- they can call me that, too? It- it's _personal_. Just for us.”

Shiro was flattered and honored that Pidge- Kat, them, they- considered him in their definition of 'us'. “Anything for you, Kat,” he told them as he stood. He offered them his hand. “Do you want to go tell the others?”

Pidge managed a smile. “Yeah... Yeah, I think I do.”

 

…

 

The team were all so proud of Pidge and so happy that they were able to come out to the rest of everyone. Hunk hugged them tightly as he sniffled with his pride, and Lance high-fived them. Keith even ruffled their hair- earning a punch to the shoulder, of course- and Shiro stood with a hand on their back the entire time, encouraging and stable.

It was a casual affair, and the team began calling them by their new pronouns with ease. For the first few days, the Paladins slipped up on occasion- immediately apologizing and correcting themselves of course- but within the week, everyone had fully transitioned to calling them 'they'.

Now, as everyone sat at the dining table with a food goo feast. A prickly pink fruit that Hunk had bought from a market after their last mission was broken open and replaced their typical water packets, its sweet nectar making Pidge think back to their mother's sweet raspberry tea.

Keith and Lance were sitting together, trying to discretely- and _totally_ failing at it- to hold hands under the table. Shiro was conversing with Lance about the newest shade of lipstick he had managed to find at the same place Hunk got his fruit- a beautiful shade of coral that Lance was immensely jealous of. Allura was engaging Hunk in a conversation about Shay once more, and the Yellow Paladin had a dreamy look on his face as he spoke of the Balmeran.

It was Coran that elbowed Pidge's shoulder gently, avoiding their torso- Shiro had told only Coran about the ace bandages, so that the Altean could find Pidge a proper binder and treat their bruised ribs- and shot the Green Paladin a fond smile.

“What are you thinking about, Number Five?”

Pidge's gaze lingered on their friends, and a grin broke out over their face.

“My family,” they responded, hugging Coran's arm and surprising the man. “I'm thinking about how perfect my family is.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed! If you're interested, you can check out my account for more stories, or you can follow me on tumblr at: http://scotty-1609.tumblr.com/


End file.
